In an unprecedented move, 87 international lawyers have issued a joint statement calling the war by the United States and the Zionist regime against Iran and Lebanon a gross violation of international law and a clear instance of the crime of aggression.
The lawyers – most of them university professors and legal scholars – addressed the letter to the United Nations and heads of state worldwide, rejecting any legal justification for the aggression that has killed thousands of civilians in both countries.
They emphasized the individual criminal responsibility of military and political officials involved in the planning and execution of the war.
The letter further holds governments that supported the war as complicit in international responsibility, citing widespread violations of international humanitarian law, including deliberate attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure.
The legal scholars called on the international community to take immediate action to end the hostilities and hold perpetrators accountable, describing the current situation as a decisive test for the survival of the international legal order.
"The world must act now," the statement reads. "Failure to respond to these grave breaches would undermine the very foundations of international law."
The US-Israeli coalition launched an unprovoked and indiscriminate war of aggression against the Islamic Republic on February 28, assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, top commanders, and nearly 170 schoolchildren in southern Iran’s Minab city.
According to Iran's Forensic Medicine Organization, the total number of martyrs in the aggression has reached 3,375. A total of 383 martyrs are under 18 years old, including 7 under one year of age, 255 between 1 and 12 years, and 121 between 13 and 18 years.
In Lebanon, the Israeli aggression, which gathered momentum after the Hezbollah resistance movement abandoned its strategic patience in early March, has mainly targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure, resulting in thousands of casualties.
The war, which came amid the indirect nuclear talks between Tehran and Washington, has been widely condemned by human rights groups worldwide as a brazen violation of international law.